I've Got A Penny

I've got a penny, penny, penny,
I've got a penny, look right here.
Whose picture is on it, on it, on it?
Whose picture is on it?  Look right here.
Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln,
Abraham Lincoln, look right here.

My Hat Has Three Corners

My hat it has three corners,

Three corners has my hat,

If it had not three corners,

It would not be my hat.

A great man you ought to know,
Lived a long, long time ago.
Abraham Lincoln the President,
Gave freedom to each resident.
He made the world a better place,
For you and all the human race!

Everybody knows the story of the cherry tree-
His father asked, "Who cut this down?"
And young George answered, "Me!"
Now that's a pretty story, but
Between just me and you,
I don't think George would like it, 'cause,
It's probably not true!

There are a lot of other things George Washington did do:
Like making maps, and farming, and he was a soldier, too!
He was our country's president, the very first we had.
Yet what do we remember?
That old tree of George's dad!

    

Money

Penny, penny,
Easily spent
Copper brown,
And worth one cent.

Nickel, nickel,
Thick and fat,
You're worth five cents.
I know that.

Dime, dime,
Little and thin,
I remember,
You're worth ten.

Quarter, quarter,
Big and bold,
You're worth twenty-five,
I am told!

Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, and Quarters

Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Well a penny is one and a nickel is five,
A dime is worth ten and a quarter twenty-five.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Five pennies make a nickel,
Two nickels make a dime.
Two dimes and a nickel
make a quarter and it's mine. Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

Once there was a little boy
Who had a little hatchet
He looked and looked around to find
A little tree to catch it.

Chorus

Georgie, Georgie, no, no, no
Be careful what you do!
Hatchets can be dangerous
And you might get hurt too!

At last he spied a cherry tree
His father's pride and joy!
He chopped it down, right to the ground,
My what a naughty boy!

(Chorus)

Then he heard a crashing voice
It sounded like a cymbal
George knew he was in trouble great
And he began to tremble.

(Chorus)

"Who cut this tree, my son, did you?"
His father asked the question.
"Yes sir, I did, I cannot lie,
I cut it with my hatchet.

(Chorus)
Extension idea:  Make this song into a big book. After you read it, make cherry trees that can fall down. First the children draw a tree and cut it out. Then cut the trunk part in half. The children paint cherries with red paint.  After the paint dries, glue the bottom part of the tree to a piece of paper. Then attach the rest of the tree with a brass fastener. The children may draw young George Washington and other details.

If I Were President...

Close your eyes for a few moments and imagine that you are President of the United States of America. As one of the most powerful leaders in the world, what do you think your life would be like? What would you hope to accomplish? Who would you want to work with? How would you respond to emergencies? How do you think your job would affect your family? your friends?

Abraham Lincoln
16th President
Born in a cabin
Emancipation Proclamation
No more Slavery
Abraham Lincoln

George Washington
1st President
Born in Virginia
Father of our Country
Never told a lie
George Washington

Independent
Writing
Presidential Pets

It seems that a lot of President's have pets just as famous as they are. If you were President what kind of pet would you keep in the White House? Write about it!

Log Cabins

Make log cabins by gluing pretzel sticks to construction paper.  Use construction paper scraps for windows, roof and door.  Before the children complete this activity, ask them to predict how many pretzels they will need.  Record their answer.  When they finish, ask them to count the actual number of pretzels used.   Compare results.

A Money Cheer

Introduce the quarter on George Washington's birthday, so the children remember it better.  Teach them this cheer:

25, 50, 75, a dollar
If you can spend money
Stand up and holler!

Penny Probability
Game

For Lincoln's Birthday, make a graph with 2 columns, heads and tails. Give each child a penny and let them toss it. they will record by coloring a square each time the penny lands on a tails or a heads. the first column that fills up is the winner. The child can even make a prediction as to which column will fill up first. Happy Birthday, Abe!

Although it is very simple, children also enjoy sorting, counting, and stacking pennies and quarters.

Penny Estimation

Guess how many pennies are in a jar. Give a silhouette of Abe's head and have the children guess how many pennies it will take to cover it.

Lincoln Graph

After discussing and reading about Abraham Lincoln, graph "Do you like Abraham Lincoln better WITH or WITHOUT a beard?" 
The children can also have a "recording sheet" with his picture with and without a beard to circle
which way they like him the best.

Abe Lincoln's
Log Cabin

Materials:

1 small milk carton for each child.
Enough containers of rich chocolate frosting to cover each house.
Skinny pretzel logs (short).
Small plastic plates.
Glue Gun.
Plastic knives

Procedure:

1. Glue a milk carton onto each plate with the glue gun.
2. Give each child a plastic knife (after a discussion on how to use them).
3. Let them spread frosting all over containers.
4. Put pretzel logs on frosting sideways so that they look like logs.
   

Money Rubbings

Make penny or quarter rubbings by putting a coin under a sheet of thin newsprint. Hold the coin steady as you rub over it with the side of a crayon. You will begin to see the head of a president as the crayon markings get darker. Be sure to rub both sides of the coin.(note: For the young'uns, put a circle of tape on the under side of the coin and tape it to the table ... several coins in a small area. Then lay the paper over it and let them take turns doing their own rubbing. It was much easier for them than trying to hold the coin (under the paper) steady.

Designing Money

After looking at a penny and a dollar, have your students design a new 4 cent coin and 4 dollar bill.

Lincoln's Bracelet

Provide the children with 3 to 6 pennies. Cut a piece of clear contact paper and press in half, enclosing the pennies. Adjust this bracelet to slip on the child's wrist

Happy Birthday,
Mr. President

Create a Birthday Card for the President.  Send them to the White House for his birthday.
(George W. Bush - July 6, 1946)

Stovepipe Hats

Make stovepipe hats with black construction paper.  Staple on a beard cut from brown construction paper.

Three Corner Hats

Make three corner hats and wear them, just like George Washington!
Cut three 12" X 3" strips of construction paper for each child. Let the children make three-cornered hats like the ones worn in George Washington's Day. Have each child staple together the ends of the three strips of construction paper(making a triangle). Children can then wear their hats for their other activities. 

Penny Mobile

Cut 6" circles out of brown construction paper. Ask children to decorate one side of the circle like the face of a penny. On the other side, they should write one sentence about Abraham Lincoln's life. After the penny is created, students may punch a hole near the top of the penny, then use a piece of yarn to tie the penny to a clothes hangar. Encourage children to continue making pennies
until time is up.

Compare mobiles. Who has the most pennies? Who has the most interesting piece of trivia? What event or events in Lincoln's life did the most people write about?

Patriotic Art
Projects

Statue of Liberty

Cut a large triangle from a 9x12 green for the Statue's dress. Use the scraps to make arms. A flesh-tone circle head and hands, brown 'ice cream cone' shaped torch, foil flame, green crown, and a white tablet finish the project.

Liberty Bell

Trace and cut a bell shape from a piece of 9x12 red, white, or blue. Provide red, white, and blue 9x1 strips and 4x6 pieces from which stars can be cut. Allow students to decorate as they wish.

Patriotic Eagle

Students cut an oval body from red. Wings are from blue. The head is 'an upside-down U' with a wavy bottom and the tail is a V with a wavy bottom made from white.

Lincoln Silhouette

Cut a stencil of Abraham Lincoln from oaktag. The students sponge paint inside the stencil. Use star shaped cookie cutters to make blue star prints.

George Washington

The head if from a 9x9 fleshtone. The hair and frilly tie is from 4 pieces of 4x6 white. Circle 'curls' are cut from 3x3 white and glued at ear level. Glue the head and frilly tie onto a piece of blue.....round off the shoulders.

Abraham Lincoln

Abe's head is traced from a pattern that includes head, ears, and neck. Giving group instructions, guide the students to draw the hair and facial features. Add a black stovepipe hat.

George Washington
Wigs

You will need: lunch-size paper bags and packing peanuts
(S- shaped). Cut out the side panel of paper bag. Glue packing peanuts in rows on front and back panels. When dry they can wear them.

A Presidential Unit

The new Mailbox Companion had some good sheets that go with this unit .


Ask if anyone knows what the President does.  Read a book about the Presidents.
Discuss who the President is and what he has and does - show baseball cap -
President likes to go to ballgames etc.  Place Bush on a timeline. 
Write things about him under his name. 
Learn a song - Take me out to the ballgame

Where does the President live.  White House - Washington D.C.

Discuss first President - read books like If I Grew Up with George
Washington - place Washington on the timeline.
Write things about him under his name. 
Show children tricorner hat... Sing - Yankee Doodle

Do a Venn Diagram with the class and then ask them to do one themselves by drawing a picture of things that are different or the same about G Washington & G. Bush - my kids always do things like: Washington - rode a horse, had false teeth, used a candle to read, had an outhouse....Bush - drives a car, goes to the movies, uses a telephone.  Things they have in common: both liked to fish, fly kites, play marbles etc. as children.

Read about Abraham Lincoln - show Stove Pipe Cap - Lincoln used to keep important papers in his hat.  Add Lincoln to the timeline.  Discuss ways he was the same or different than the other presidents - rode the train like Bush - Washington had no trains, Bush and Lincoln lived in the White House etc.  Song: When Johnnie Comes Marching Home Again We discussed the difference between fact and fiction as I told them some of the folklore about Lincoln (returning the penny) and Washington (the cherry tree)


During this unit, I showed children pictures of the presidents and discussed portraits and busts.  They drew a picture of our current president and I brought in an art teacher who taught us some basic info about drawing faces.

This also lends itself to writing - If I were President...,
we emailed the white house and then wrote letters.

We looked at coins and other money with magnifying glasses. Sorted them, made a Venn diagram, counted them, and did simple addition and subtraction problems. The children designed their own coin or presidential stamp.
We finish with an all American pot luck supper complete with Cherry and apple pies...or just making the pies in class.

Name three presidents and gives an indication of when they lived by describing their hats and can describe how they are different and similar to our lives).
Name where the president lives
(White House, Washington DC).
Can sing a song from each time period.
Can identify the Presidents on coins
and the amount of the coin.
Know what the Presidentıs job is.

Cherry Turnovers

Make cherry turnovers with refrigerated biscuit dough and cherry pie filling. Have a student flatten a biscuit using the bottom of a drinking glass.  Place 1 TB of pie filling in the center.  Fold over and pinch edges.  Bake until brown.

Lincoln Penny
Lessons

Activity 1: Observation and discussion
Materials : magnifying glass, penny
Use a magnifying glass to explore a penny and discuss what students observe about the penny.
Have students look closely at the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the penny. They should be able to see Lincoln sitting in the middle of the building.

Facts : The penny is made out of copper. Copper is one of the cheapest metals to be found. Even the poorest person can carry the penny and be reminded of Lincoln and how he did so much for Civil Rights.

Activity 2: Magic bath
Materials: small glass container for each group or student, white vinegar, salt, paper towel, and a penny for each student.

Give the President a bath! Drop a dirty penny into a clear container of white vinegar and add bath salts (regular table salt). Watch the penny become shiny and new!

Activity 3:Penny Necklace
Materials:
3 ovals of construction paper -red, white, and blue. 
Hole punch,
yarn,
glue,
penny.
Glue the ovals side by side to form a medallion. Punch a hole in the top of the middle circle and string the yarn through (tie yarn to make necklace). Glue your penny to the center of your medallion.

President's Day
Snack

Use individual cups have each child crush a part of a graham cracker or vanilla wafer top with pudding and add cherry pie filling on top.

Cherry
Thumbprint Cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla
2 sticks butter or margarine
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
maraschino cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the vanilla, butter, egg yolks and brown sugar until creamy. Add the flour and salt and mix well.
Have the children roll the dough into 1" balls and place them on greased cookie sheets. Have the children make a thumbprint in each ball and then place a maraschino cherry in each thumbprint. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. (Makes about 3 dozen cookies)

Miniature
Lincoln Logs

Bake a white or yellow cake mix in paper baking cups as directed on the package. Cool and remove from papers. To form logs, put two cupcakes together end-to-end with ready-to-spread chocolate frosting. Frost sides, leaving ends of logs (tops of cupcakes) unfrosted. With small spatula make strokes in frosting to resemble bark. Decorate each log with a hatchet cut from red construction paper.

Truth or Fib

Tell the children the story about George Washington and the cherry tree. George Washington was an honest man-he told the truth, not a fib. Now tell the children short phrases, and ask them to tell whether the phrase is the truth or a fib. Here are some examples:
The moon is made of green cheese.
We get light from the moon.
All the children in the room are girls. etc.